


Two Bros Chillin' in the Ocean

by DroppedAllTheseOreos



Series: Merm-Aid [1]
Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 11:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15929408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DroppedAllTheseOreos/pseuds/DroppedAllTheseOreos
Summary: On the same surfboard cuz they're both gay.





	Two Bros Chillin' in the Ocean

Graphite growled in frustration as he fell out of the surf and came to rest just short of the shallows. He'd been learning how to bodyboard from a local lifeguard for almost five months, and he excelled at it due to his body type at first. But after three weeks in it felt like he'd stopped making progress. He turned toward the hissing then splashing sound of a board gliding to a stop and its rider falling off into the water. He squinted to make out the shapes of the lifeguard, Kiriya, climbing back onto the board he pulled up next to Graphite.

"Hey, you almost made it to shore this time! Good job, big guy." Kiriya said after straddling his board.

Graphite could sort of make out the white of his teeth against his tan skin and assumed he was smiling. "Aw don't look so disappointed, dude. You're doing really well for being a blind-ass eel man." Graphite half-heartedly splashed water in the direction of the blurry shapes of dark hair and tan skin, hoping it caught Kiriya in the face and washed his stupid grin off. As a moray eel, Graphite could definitely smell where this human was at all times when he was in the water, but as far as seeing, he didn't really need it for hunting, so he had an awful time of it.

The beach where they met tended to be empty because of how rocky it was, and there wasn't a clear path to get to it. But once Kiriya learned his new friend was blind, he took to wearing a signature red somewhere on his swimsuits so Graphite could recognize him easily. Most of the time it was a pair of bright red board shorts under a rash guard, but sometimes, when they would meet at night, Kiriya would wear a black wetsuit with red accent stripes running down his sides. That one, though harder to see him in, was Graphite's favorite of the outfits Kiriya would wear to their lessons. The red wasn’t as harsh on his weak eyes compared to the other swimsuits.

"Seriously, I think we can get you onshore today." Kiriya's voice snapped Graphite out of his pout, and he turned with an almost hopeful expression.

"You really think so?" He asked with only a hint of sarcasm and disbelief.

Graphite figured Kiriya was rolling his eyes from the way his head moved up and back slightly and scoffed a little in response. Kiriya laid back down on his board.

"Yeah I think so, so let's get back out there." He began to paddle out, and Graphite let himself have a small smile before gliding through the water after him.

After a few more hours of practice later, Graphite was slowly coming closer to the shore and his anticipation at finally being able to ride a wave successfully grew. Kiriya pulled up next to him and congratulated him again. "I think you'll be able to make it this time!" He said excitedly. "Do you wanna borrow my rash guard? You'll probably need it since you don't have a board, y'know?

Graphite, feeling a little cocky now that he was getting the hang of it just laughed. "I don't need that thing. My skin's tougher than yours and I got a layer of mucus protecting me. Sand's nothing."

Kiriya looked at him skeptically and asked him if he was sure a few more times before finally dropping it so the two could paddle out again. Today there was a lull between swells so Graphite and Kiriya were left sitting out in the water for a while. When they first started boarding together these times would be awkward and silent. Eventually, Kiriya broke the silence and they started chatting about their lives. Kiriya would talk about onshore drama with friends, like how his best friend was ignoring him in favor of this stray cat she picked up and named Taiga. He’d express how he missed Japan but being home in Hawaii was nice. He realized he needed the break from the city.

Graphite would gripe about his magical roommate Kuroto and how his attempts at necromancy made it hard to leave the den since everything smelled like blood and decay. He’d talk about clients that came and went to make contracts with Kuroto and how his one other friend was a nudibranch named Poppy that was a regular patron. She traded him bones and weird, potentially useful knickknacks in exchange for remedies to help her sick girlfriend.

This time they were discussing what kinds of things Kiriya should bring to their next meet up. Kiriya insisted on some overly sweet juice he called pog, but Graphite found he preferred a slightly sweet canned tea Kiriya brought once. It was so mundane and pointless, but Graphite found comfort in it since his usual conversations with Poppy usually seemed to turn to her anxiety over her partner, which was understandable; and Kuroto’s interests mainly lay in his next magical experiment and what Graphite labeled “corpse facts” so having a normal conversation with him was rare. Having a good-natured argument about snacks and juice was such a contrast it felt nice.

They waited and chatted for a little while before a good swell came in. Kiriya could always see the waves before Graphite, so him laying flat on his board was a sign of the swell coming in a matter of seconds. Soon enough Graphite could feel the shift in the water around them. The two of them started to swim hard, feeling the water surge and pick them up. Rather than stand up on his board like usual, Kiriya stayed prone on the board and rode the wave into shore with Graphite. The water grew a little choppy as it started to hit shallower waters, and he noticed Kiriya’s board lose momentum and eventually fall behind him. He managed to angle his body and keep pace with the breaker, letting it carry him all the way in at high speed.

Graphite felt a rush of joy that he finally made it to shore right before the breaker felt as if it pulled away out from under him, dissolving into foam as it spilled against the beach. His momentum kept him going forward and spat him out on the shore. He slid for a few feet, chest dragging in the damp, coarse sand, tearing at his exposed skin before he ground to a halt, lying completely still, face down on the beach. He heard the rasp of velcro being undone and splashing that transitioned to footfalls as Kiriya made his way out of the water to him. Graphite didn't even bother to turn his head towards Kiriya as the lifeguard crouched next to him. Graphite was trying his best to school his face into a calm expression. He wanted to look tough and impress this guy for some godforsaken reason, so showing pain wouldn't do.

"Hey, you okay big guy?" Kiriya asked worriedly. Graphite gave a muffled "hm" of acknowledgment and continued to try and ignore the pain all over his torso. "Can I see how bad it is?"

Graphite flinched ever so slightly and steeled himself to face Kiriya and not let tears prick at his eyes. Graphite huffed as he turned over. "It's not that bad honestly. Stop worrying over me."

He heard Kiriya's sigh of relief and a laugh. "You're right. Looks like you're gonna be fine." There's a small pause where he snorts trying to hold back another laugh. "Good thing nipples grow back."

"What?" Graphite yelled, voice cracking a little bit.

He frantically slapped his hands to his chest, wincing in pain at the contact on his fresh wounds before realizing his nipples were still attached to his torso. Kiriya started cackling wildly as Graphite felt embarrassment heat his entire face. With a growl he flung his tail in the direction of the lifeguard, hoping to just kick some water and wet sand up in his face. He misjudged the direction and distance and ended up smacking Kiriya right on the side of his head, sending him careening back towards the water’s edge. He was half laughing and half groaning in pain, and Graphite only felt a little sorry for him.

They both lay there in the wet sand for a moment as Kiriya got his bearings and Graphite got over his embarrassment, the pain finally starting to dull on his torso. Kiriya opened his mouth to say something when a wave crashed onto the shore, covering him completely. Graphite hazily saw a leg kick up into the air before Kiriya turned into a mass of blurry moving colors and shape in his vision. Kiriya flailed to make it to dry land. He clumsily crawled up the shore, hacking and spitting up water as he went, getting coated in dry sand sticking to his wet clothes and skin. He collapsed at the dry sand above the high tide line, breath heaving for a little before he chuckled.

"I guess I deserved that." He let out a loud, tired sigh had the hint of a smile in it before collapsing into the sand and lying there on his side.

The two of them stayed like that for a bit. Graphite staying inside the high tide line and letting the water wash over him to keep from drying out. Kiriya trying not to curl up to keep his airways open as he struggled to quietly spit mixtures of sand and brine out onto the ground below him. Eventually, Kiriya got himself up and started to wash himself off in the shallow water. Once he was mostly free of sand, he ambled back to his stuff and dried himself off a little. Graphite felt a jolt of panic that he might be leaving without saying goodbye but felt relief wash over him when Kiriya knelt by his side again. He was holding a little red pouch and a shiny, transparent thing in his hands.

“Can I clean the sand out of your cuts a little?” Kiriya chuckled. “It probably won’t help much since you live in the ocean, but I wanna make it up to you at least a little.”

Graphite grimaced but nodded, propping himself up on his elbows. Kiriya knelt down next to him and set the little red pouch down. The shiny thing ended up being a water bottle, Graphite could tell from the familiar crackling sound it made when Kiriya twisted the cap off. He tilted his head back and let the sun-warmed water splash over his chest. Graphite bit his tongue at the sting of the initial contact, but it quickly faded away into just the mildly unpleasant sensation of warm water running over his body. When the bottle was empty, Kiriya stuck it in the sand next to him and picked up the little red pouch again. Graphite heard a quiet unzipping noise and squinted to make out Kiriya pulling some small white squares from inside. Kiriya held one up to him close so he could see without straining too hard.

“These are gonna sting a lot, but I just wanna make sure it doesn’t get infected, okay? I’m sure your mucus or whatever helps prevent infection, but I just wanna be sure, y’know?”

Graphite sniffed at the square and detected a slight sharp smell that burned his nostrils a little. He snarled at it but leaned back and bared his throat a little bit to show Kiriya he’d be compliant. He watched as Kiriya tore one of them open, the acrid, burning smell becoming stronger. He scrunched his face up in disgust but held out for the other man. Kiriya swiped across a swathe of small cuts and raw skin just under his collarbones. Graphite did everything he could to restrain his reactions to the pain. Kiriya kept working, wiping at the cuts a little and ripping open a new packet and repeating.

Kiriya babbled on about random things as he worked. Maybe because he picked up on Graphite struggling and wanted to help distract him or maybe because he just felt the need to fill the silence with something besides the sounds of the ocean. Either way, his hands finally left Graphite’s chest, the whole thing a mass of stinging pain or experiencing a weird, cool sensation from where the ocean breeze was hitting him. Kiriya sat next to him, continuing his lengthy explanation on memes and how he thought it was pronounced “meh-meh” as the substance dried on Graphite’s skin. Kiriya gingerly tapped the skin around his wounds to feel if they dried up, and when he deemed Graphite okay to return to the water, he stood and packed away the water bottle and pouch again. When Kiriya returned to his side, he groaned disappointedly.

“What?” Graphite shot at him.

“I probably should’ve done that in the water. You can’t roll yourself back in without getting sand all over you so it would’ve been for nothing.” Kiriya groaned.

“Nice going, genius.” Graphite rolled his eyes.

There was an awkward pause between them before Kiriya crouched down close to him and, with possibly the most serious expression Graphite had ever discerned from the blurry mess of features on the other man’s face, Kiriya propositioned him.

“I could try carrying you.”

Graphite laughed right in his face. “Yeah, you could definitely try. I’m pretty frickin' heavy if you haven’t notic—”

“Yeah yeah, I know. But c’mon, it’s worth a shot at the very least.” Kiriya retorted with a smile and a flex. “You tellin’ me you don’t trust these arms to keep you safe?”

Graphite was half tempted to shuffle away and solve this himself, sand in his wounds or no; the other half was tempted to counter with a snarky “Oh, I’m sure I’ll be safe in those scrawny looking arms. Can you flex harder? I’m blind and I don’t see much of a difference.” But he swallowed his pride enough to let Kiriya try. And if he failed, he could just laugh at the lifeguard’s bruised ego in the end, so he sighed dramatically and nodded.

Kiriya slid his hands under Graphite’s back and tail. With a little grunt of exertion, he lifted Graphite off the ground and after taking a moment to maintain his balance, Kiriya started walking down to the beach pretty effortlessly. He only stumbled once in the shallow water, and Graphite tried hard not to feel impressed. When they finally got to about waist deep water, Kiriya moved to set him down. And to his horror, Graphite realized he really did feel safe in Kiriya’s arms. He dove from his grasp as quickly as he could, ignoring the lifeguard’s cry of surprise.

He stayed under the cold water until he was sure a blush wouldn’t show on his face. He slowly rose from the water, keeping the lower half of his face submerged and looked up at Kiriya, who looked a little shocked and upset. Graphite felt a little sorry for startling him and rose to be eye level with him, curling his long tail under him in mimicry of legs to hold himself upright. Kiriya shot him a look as if to say “what the fuck.” Graphite shrugged sheepishly and grimaced. He noticed Kiriya's head tilting back as he rolled his eyes and sighed. Suddenly he was hit square in the face by some water.

"Now, we're even." Kiriya chuckled.

Graphite growled with a playful smile on his face. Despite his blindness, he knew he could hit his target this time. He pushed himself off the sandy ocean floor and flung himself at Kiriya, submerging them both into the cool water. When they surfaced again, Kiriya hacking up water for a second time that day and Graphite's open wounds aching from the impact, all he could think was "this is so worth it."


End file.
